>> Monday, March 21, 2005

This map has been created for the Unreal4Ever Mapping contest. This is an exciting map because the board changes significantly as you play. All the players start out on opposite sides of the double basin sink, and the water level is at about 8% full - but the faucet is ON and filling it up!

After about 5 minutes of flooding, the water does shut itself off, opening the surface of the "ocean" to travel by boat or hovercraft - but watch out for falling apples! After a little more time, the fruit basket that hangs above the sink breaks and dumps its content, creating floating islands (and cover to hide behind) when you're crossing that open sea.

There are all sorts of weapons and pickups hidden all around the board, and it is a large board, so be prepared for a good bit of exploration to learn the lay of the land. And while a large board does imply a larger playercount, don't despair thinking that you're going to have a hard time finding targets; with the implementation of the U4E weapons, especially the IAM (gravity gun, for pole-vaulting yourself -- learn this technique!) you'll be flying from one end of the board to the other in a matter of moments. And even if you can't master such special travel techniques, there are vehicles-a-plenty on this board, even though you have to wait a bit to get the Mantas and boats which float on the surface of the water.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * SPOILERS BELOW * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *What makes SterlingFlood so cool?A little primer on how best to use Unreal4Ever weapons to get around in SterlingFlood:You start out in the bottom of your team's side of the kitchen sink, and since the water is turned on, TAKE NOTE of where the weapons are located (especially the BFG). You'll want to remember these later because they'll be too far underwater to swim to easily. Later, grab the RiftPad from on top of the spoon, on top of the frying pan (Follow the "Grenade icons" to get to the "armoury"). Use this to open portals to jump to the pickup spots you've taken note of - this will save you and your team a lot of effort while keeping you stocked with some incredibly powerful weapons, primarily the Airblast, BFG, and Railgun. Oh, and if you look hard enough you might find the Hellsaw somewhere, too By the way, don't worry about the Mantas and boats at first - you can't get them out of the sink until it fills up anyway. (Although I could see you using the IAM to throw the mantas onto the counter, once they get close...)Once you've found the "armoury" on top of the highest upturned cup(s), start taking advantage of the IAM's gravity control - especially to let yourself down from such a huge height. Practice with this weapon, and you will get far. Fast. Although you might miss it, the Fleshbomb Rifle is "hiding" at the tip of the frying pan handle. So you snipers out there, go crazy. There ARE more stashes of FBR ammo in key spots, but I'll let you find those.There's a lot more to do with the IAM, so I'm not done talking about it, yet. You can use it to throw the loose items on top of the counter around, and these make decent (and wickedly FUN) weapons when they get moving. While you unfortunately don't get credit for the kill, they're more satisfying tthan regular kills, IMHO. Be especially careful with the giant razorblade - I sliced myself in half with a 450-damage "oopsie" once. And don't waste too much time playing craps with the dice, but do feel free to create mini-barriers by moving them around. (FYI: There's a forcefield around the flags that prevents players from putting objects or vehicles ON the flagbase since that would be cheating.)You might notice the Dollbombs "hovering" off the side of the countertop. Those are NOT the real pickups -- follow their arrows (yes, OFF the side of the counter!) to find them. But don't make a leap of faith; it pays to be prepared. While there are several ways to get them, I find it easiest to just use the IAM to catch myself and drop onto the ledge below. There are teleporters to bring you back, because I found it annoying to climb back up with the gravgun.The other special use for the IAM in this weapon will get you into the shock tank, and if you do it right you might gain a pseudo-invicibility, as well. You can tell that the tank is trapped underneath a "U4E shotglass". Again, the easiest way around this is to lift the glass off with the IAM. But do it only a little bit! Then you can sneak under it and let the glass settle on top of you. The tank has enough power to push the glass around, and with its special shield-pulse attack, you can still deal damage while protected inside it. If you feel especially plucky, try to sneak the UFO underneath the glass!There's one Raptor available at ground-level so that it's easier for the bots to fly around, and if that's taken there's always a lift taking you to the top of the "air base". However you'll quickly find that this lift is painfully slow; look around for other ways to get on it, and think IAM, Airblast, or Katana.While you're flying around, you might notice there's a Leviathan that's STUCK inside a mug, one for each base. This is not a design flaw. It is easy to get it out by simpling opening a couple of rifts with the Riftpad. Note, however, that you want to be careful while placing the exit rift; don't place it up in near the "armoury" because then it'll be stuck up THERE instead of in the cup.Don't miss the QSG that has been hidden in plain sight next to the "air base" (where the UFOs are). If you haven't figured it out by now, a quick teleport from the Katana will get you nicely inside there! And there's a super-shield pickup for a reward, as well!I decided that the Locust hoverboard was a little powerful, mostly because a single user can carry the flag on it, so I specially designed the toaster to hold it. Yes, it makes it harder to use, but it's well worth the little bit of effort needed to get it out. You can see that the toaster's CANCEL button is blinking (I have a toaster just like this, although mine doesn't blink ) Ideally, I planned for users to get inside the toaster (IAM-jump up there) and fire a Tomahawk missle out to push the button. You could also use the Railgun, although it would be hard/impossible to "see" button Or, if you already had a flying vehicle, just shoot the button and trade one vehicle for the other when it pops up.That's about it. There are a few more hidden things here & there around the board that are your responsibility to find. So good hunting!

Would be nice if you described what problem you had... ... but you probably DON'T have U4E installed. Everyone who has complained in this manner so far has not installed Unreal4Ever. Grab it from their homepage and try again. Or, if you can specifically describe what's wrong, I'll help you through it.

Various SterlingFlood conversations I've found around the 'net:Name: :TsT:hawkwindMessage: another great kitchen drama from WinkyBoy! a sink that fills and boats that go, really puts a new twist to vctf.bots don't like deep water....gj!Name: WinkyboyMessage: Thanks, Hawkwind! Yeah, this is DEFINITELY the best SinkPack board out there, now. I'm proud enough to put out the challenge that it's the best "giant map" in existance, too smile -- even though as you say, the bots do not like deep water.Not much can be done about that, nor do they navigate with the boats very much. But besides that, they play very well, I think! Be on the lookout for the next Winkyboy production -- it's going to be another ground-breaking production!

TELL me about it. I'd love to play them with other people myself... but the server list only shows what maps are running on the server at the time you're looking. So many servers, so many players, so many boards... you'd think the Sink stuff would appear a little more often.Here's another way to find servers that have my maps on them:Browse to the UT2004 stats page and do a search for "-SPAC-" or "SterlingFlood" or any of my other map names.You'll be shown a list of recent matches with my maps in them. Keep clicking down into the details until you find a server IP address, and then click that to join that server. Chances are that mapvote will be on, and you'll be able to vote for a Winky creation when the board changes.This isn't a comprehensive list of all the times my creations have been played, of course, because it only records from servers that are posting such information, but it helps.

wow. Just wow. It's no wonder this won the contest.Yeah it is brutal on the FPS, dragging mine from a regular (playable) 30-40, to about TEN!Couple things:1. You should have put the unlimited IAM in it. Too much copol stuff to do to be sitting around waiting for your IAM to cool down!2. This isn't consistent enough to take out, so I hope you leave it cause it's awesome fun, but when you grab hold of that big razor, and lay it down flat, you can get on one side then grab the other with the IAM and move left or right (don't throw it up, you won't stay on it!)This way you can go "Razor surfing" That is a hell of a lot of fun. Even if it is hard as hell to do.Congratulations on winning the PSP, this is definitely deserving.

Thanks, Thunderstrike! Very much Yeah, I wound up getting the same framerate when I used my backup computer to test it out... I certainly should have done so well before the contest deadline, so I could have released a better version. But, I am going to redo it ASAP (when my laptop gets back from repair) and clean up the FPS.I'm planning on taking out a bunch of staticmeshes and replacing them with one that looks like a bunch; for example, all those books on the shelves do NOT need to be individual SMs. I've also got a couple of other things to remove that aren't necessary, and then I'm going to add some more antiportalActors, zone portals, etc. The layout of the board IS going to be difficult to optimize, but I'll see what I can do.I wasn't aware that we could put the unlimited IAM in, as a mapper, so I hadn't even considered that - but (you probably already know this) U4E has a mutator that you can just replace the Assault Rifle with the unlimited IAM.I didn't know about that trick with the razorblade! Cool - I'll have to try it! Did you try flying around with the UFO underneath the shotglass? (I DID increase the shotglass mass since last I did that, so I might just have broken that ability, but if it's still in there, it's tons of fun...)Thanks again, Thunderstrike! Now, if only I can get some company out there to see things your way so I can get paid to do this kind of thing all day...

I couldn't get the UFO under it. But I did get into the Paladin there. That's fun. The bots don't know enough to get rid of the glass so it's an excellent iding spot. You just drive around with this giant forcefield like thing around you. Yeah I would love to see a cleaned up version of this. I want to be able to play it, not just watch it. Hopefully you'll be able to do it. It'll still be a gigantic map though.

Well (gulp) there IS a Scale Map ability in the editor, so I could try to bring it down in size. It messes up all the botpathing, usually, which would mean I'd have to reapply all of those. But I might actually give it a try, because it's possible it could help with FPS. I'll see - it'd mean weeks of extra work, but I'll see.

No, the size is great, start scaling the map and that'll really damage it. I'm sure there's other things you can do to it to get better FPS.I mean, some Onslaught maps are bigger than this and those run fine on my computer.

Can I make a suggestion?Okay, well when you're going to the flag, there's a long stretch of counter and then there's a huge dropoff that leads to the floor below. It's where you put the Dollbombs.Can you make a blocking volume around there that will repel the GoodKarma objects? (balls, dice, razors)It's always a pain to lose one of your happytime fun toys to the Great Abyss. And the sinks, too. The razors sink like stones but the dice and balls float so that isn't a problem. Or, just make the razors float too or something.If that's not possible, or too difficult to be practical, could you at least make the balls/dice/razors get destroyed and respawn when thrown down the abyss?The cups should be immune to this though. The funniest thing I did was go and grab the Red team's cup that was overtop of their Paladin, and heave it over my head and into the sink, watching it fall down to the depths below.

Thanks, DaJ! I've really enjoyed creating content with GoodKarma in it, there's so much that can be done with that!Thunderstrike, I'm not sure if I should put all of that in... I'm leaning toward putting some funtime-toy-blocking volumes at the edge of the counter, because there's no way at ALL to get them back when they go over the edge. AND, I'm considering removing the bags & extra counterspace that are never used, to try to increase framerates, so putting those blocking volumes in would become even more important.But as for the razor sinking, just use the riftpad to bring it back to the surface. It'd only take a moment or so to do. You could probably do the same for the shotglass if it sinks, although you'd have to be careful where you put the exiting end of the tunnel so the glass doesn't get stuck.Dang I just want to actually SEE people throwing these objects around! I've only ever tested it with bots, and one LAN party where people weren't familiar with the U4E weps. arr...

The problem with that is, it's a big map (20+ megs) that requires a big mod (50+ megs), and to boot, it's a mod no one plays online.But I'm going to tell you what I told someone else getting down on their work cause no one played it online. Online is not the end all and be all of gaming, and it's idiotic to think it is. Just because people aren't playing it online doesn't mean people aren't playing it period.There's a problem with the riftpad thing, and using it to get the leviathan out, and the razor out of the sink etc. I can't find it.

What you say is definitely true. It's just incredibly difficult for the content creator to see the iceberg for what it really is. Continuing the metaphor, there's so much ice out there you can't tell if yours really even is an iceberg at all.Okay that didn't make a lot of sense. Let me say it's a huge relief to hear that someone does play my creations, so thank you - and anyone else who responds on winkyboy.com! - for trying them!!***************************************** WEAPON PLACEMENT SPOILERS *****************************************The harder-to-find weapons are located here:* The Hellsaw is on the very bottom of the sink, straight down and in the middle, along the edge nearest your base.* The red BFG is approximately water-level at the beginning of the board, on top of an overturned cup, behind two spoons, in the middle-ish of the basin. The blue BFG is higher up than that, but underneath one of the two overturned cups closest to the blue base.* The riftpad is up top, near the "armoury" -- jump on top of the frying pan and find the upside-down spoon. It rests on top of that.* The Fleshbomb Rifle is on the end of the frying pan handle. There are ammo pickups on top of objects near each base, and in the middle of the two central cabinets (fly to reach these)* In the middle of the board against the far wall you will find the large Howitzer and the CVT. The CVT ammo is found in each far corner, on the bottom shelf of each bookshelf, near the "cliff side" of the countertop next to each dishrack, and on top of the upside-down shortening.... There are a FEW more secrets here & there, but they're not crucial to gameplay. Check the fruitbowl, and the pot of water. Near the corners are some super health pickups. That's about it!

Hey, I know this might not be so revelent to the topic of dicussion, but I am in the process of DLing Sterlingflood at the moment.. So I needed something to do while I DL 21 MB on a 26kbp connection >.>Question is.. I remember a custom DM level for the original unreal where you was in a HUGE bathroom, was that you Winky that made that level?and from the Screenies the map looks really good, considering the everyday mundain content.. I am impressed I also have a request. If you WAS the one that made that level perhaps drop a few months into remaking it for UT2k4 eh? *nudge Nudge*Been playing unreal since original unreal a good six or seven years ago, never found something as original as a giant bathroom level... it was particularly fun to play with u4e.. which I remember being around back then as well Countess BlitzLady of Lag friendly Rocket Launcher~

Hi, thanks for stopping by Countess Well, I've never authored a giant bathroom level, but there have been many of those created. I did a quick search but didn't find any on Mapraider, Nalicity, and UnrealPlayground -- but I know that they're out there somewhere.I've currently got far too many things in my Unreal world going on to take on any new projects. In fact, I'm behind on some commitments to mods, like Lawdogs and HerzogZwei. BUT if I miraculously am able to clear my Unreal plate, I'll look into the bathroom level for you. Just remember there's stress on the word miraculous there...I hope you've already downloaded U4E - that's another 50meg download!... I sympathize with the modem connection; I've been there...

can i make a suggestion??I love the look of this map but I have a latop that has a bad graphics card (although its a year old) so the map plays really slowly..so i thought that you could take the whole of the floor used at the edge of the map for performances sake (not looks) cuz the map looks brilliant i like the design of the level just like your other sinkpack levels. And any way, its the fun that counts, not just the looks

Sounds like you would be another good candidate for testing the next version of this, I'm nearing a point where I should send it out to other people for some alpha testing of my optimization.By the way - do you mean you think I should REMOVE the rest of the room? Like, just chop off the room from the edge of the countertop? I suppose that would look kind of bad, but if it would help performance greatly, I'd consider it -- at least...... I'd consider making a super-optimized version, say one that already has the room chopped off as you request, and maybe even with the sinks already filled & apples already fallen. I could then remove most of the staticmeshes in the sink which would also help out a lot.Why don't you register here or email me if you're interested in testing out the next version? I might have a new one this weekend, and if not, definitely early next week.

"and maybe even with the sinks already filled & apples already fallen. I could then remove most of the staticmeshes in the sink which would also help out a lot."Dude, that's the whole friggin point of the map right there. That the sinks fill up.If you did that how would we be supposed to get the BFG and everything else down there?There's optimization, and then there's neutering. That falls under neutering. Please DON'T consider that.

LOL Okay, point taken! I'll keep the flooding in. This next version I AM working should make things a bit better for everyone, anyway. I thought I had some weird teleporter problems going on in it, but apparently when I tested it on my laptop which I got back, they work fine. (I replaced the jump pads that lead up to the fryingpan with some teleporters, because I moved things around and their jump path is blocked now -- trying to add antiportals)

Hey i just registered!hey id love to test the mapsi tried this map again and it worked on a playable (FOR ME) average 7 fpsbut just one thing, the times i have tried it the karma toys didnt work any thing you can do to help me?

I lied. This runs wonderfully on my computer. After exploring the map there are a gajillion secrets and extras. I eventually figured out how to get the QSG, but the thing I don't understand is the leviathan. It and the cup it's in are too big to pick up with the IAM, and you can't get it out of the cup. Is it just... there, or is there a way to actually get it onto the playing field. (If you don't want to tell me how, you can just say if it can leave the cup or not and that'll be fine)

Hey BobFungus! Thanks for stopping by! Let's see... first off, I'm glad that SterlingFlood works well for you. I've got a revision in the works that should improve framerates for everyone a little more, too -- just FYI. You can find a link for it (beta) over on the Unreal4Ever forums. I think I already gave away the SterlingFlood secrets on the first page of this thread, but as I'm lazy and already typing......Grab the Riftpad (on top of the spoon, on top of the frying pan), and create a portal from inside the cup to somewhere else outside. Try to place it somewhere that the Leviathan WON'T get stuck when it drives through. I tried to be a little devious in creating ways to use the U4E weapons Oh, and sorry about the framerate on GraveyardHills -- I'll fix that too. That'll be a lot easier as I'm SURE it's related to the number of s in that board. Each large pile of s is like ... 150 or 200 of them, and there are a lot of faces on those s... I know the engine is supposed to handle staticmeshes nicely, but there's a limit I guess, too!

Cool, thanks. I didn't even know the rift pad could teleport vehicles. BTW, the seal boats are kind of tough to get into, especially if you try to jump out of the water into it. Maybe you could add some extra sponges to where the boats are docked?

Arrgh, I'm an idiot. Sorry, I'm not thinking clearly at 1 AM. There's only one seal boat in question, which is on the red side near the skaarj viper boat. But it doesn't matter, since the glorious and all seeing IAM can reel it in closer to shore anyways.

Arrgh, I'm an idiot. Sorry, I'm not thinking clearly at 1 AM. There's only one seal boat in question, which is on the red side near the skaarj viper boat. But it doesn't matter, since the glorious and all seeing IAM can reel it in closer to shore anyways.

Ah, I know the one you're talking about. And actually, I think it will appear close to shore after it respawns once... for some reason when the board starts, it bumps the edge of the sink and falls (all the boats start at the water's ending position, at the top) away from the edge. I can look into this, though, with the next revision.Yeah, the IAM on this board makes navigating ANYWHERE a breeze. It's definitely well-used on this board.Note, I'm tenatively planning on including the Ruination Walker from T-Shinzon/Xyx's vehicle packs that they're working on, in the next board. There's not a TON of room to manuever it around, that's true, but it's a lot of fun. It'll be behind another U4E-wep-required obstacle, like the Leviathan is.

Insomniax wrote:

The karma weapons STILL don't work on my cmputer, it is as if the are too heavy for the iam and the dont move at all...COMPLETELY static

Insomniax, I thought they were static on your system because your settings are on Low, wasn't it? I can email DaJMasta to see if he has any ideas...

Okay, this is what DaJMasta said: "If the physics settings are set to low, NKAs will not work, though I am trying to override this...."So, if you can double-check that setting, hopefully this is all you need! ...Let me know if it works!

I have that version of U4E. Considering the file size i suppose it's not the latest version.Anyway sterlig flood doesn't work. UT is asking for a u4e3 file.I will download the latest version of u4e on their site.

OK, i finally have that map working. And thanks to your instructions i found nearly all the weapons (except the hellsaw)- I got the QSG. The only way to get it AFAK, is the bug gun. Is there another way?-I got the leviathan. You need a rift pad portal to take it out of the mug. The technic is not flawless. Once my portal was destructed for an unknow reason and the rear of my leviathan got stuck in the mug.I also tried to travel through a rift gate with a raptor and i got a raptor uside down. And there is no way to get in back in the right sense even after ejecting.- The toaster works even thou it's not necessary to get out with the hoverboard (which is indeed a real spoiller) since you just have to elevate with it. Don't remember which swith i hit. The one on the wall or the one on the toaster?- I got the Paladin. The easiest way is to know down the glass by crashing your full speeded raptor into it. I also managed to get under the glass with rifts. Strangely you can create a portal inside when you are outside. I've been unable to use the IAM to move the glass enough.- I got the doll bomb by "landing" nearby with my raptor. But i don't think it's worth wasting a raptor for 3 dollbombs. I'm usually not useless at IAM climbing but that was really too hard for me.- I did pole jumped across whole maps with the IAM but this map is a bit too cumbersome. You can't find enough space in front of you. The few pole jumps i did were pretty pityfull.- The map "lags", my frame rate colapses when i play it. That kinda spoils the gameplay. The acrobatics requested by the map are much harder with that laggy impression.- The underwater weapons are no longer accessible after a few minutes. Of course you could have managed to get out of the sink in which you spawned, get the rift pad and dive back into the water if your multiple jumps left you enough health but i doubt anyone would do that. In addition, for me, rifts quickly disapear. Lots of weapons quickly get out of reach.- I used the airblast to travel fast from a flag to another in other maps. In this one, the airblast has not much ammo and for some reasons i'm unable to get out of the sink with it. It's like i was stuck to the water or the platform i was on. I rise a little, painfully, slowly but finally, i always run out of ammo before getting out of the sink and fall back. Once it's done there is no way to get the airblast again (see above).-Is this map supposed to be played online or offline?I think the main interrest of Tournament is in online gaming. I know thou that numerous player with crappy connections did buy it and play it exclusively as instant action. If it's meant to be played online, the file size is a bit too big to be forced from a server. Specially considering that U4E (or actually the lattest beta version of U4E, the older versions are not enough to run the map)isn't much played online. If it's meant to be played offline, the bots are too stupid. They need ages to attack you. Have very little propension for vehicles, specially flying vehicles. They camp near their flag or walk beside the sink. Hoverboarding to their base and back resulted in multiple easy cap for me.- The first time i played it i found almost no weapon. Just those beside my base and in the sink i spawned in. I abandonned it for a while. I got back to play it after i read the begining of this thread. The weapons are hiden and the corresponding ammos are far from them and isolated.I don't think that's the way a map should be done. You should be able to find a rift pad in the mug, a tomahaw in the toaster, a bug gun under the glass above the QSG. There are finally few snipping spots, no turets like in countertop. The rare good place to snipe is on the shelf in the closets or beside. And there you can find FBR darts.... But the gun is not there. Nor the avril. Gosh. It's pointless. And you had to waste a flying vehicle to get there. The FBR is not a spoiller weaponPeople download your map among others. If they have to struggle to find weapons and bring them where the are needed etc, they will give up and play an easier map. A map for fights, not accrobatics and secrets searching. I don't think most of the players who did download that map will be arsed exhaminating it carrefully.- i think more open spaces would be welcome. I tend to lost myself in that maze. It's also, for me a necessity in order to AIM polljump effectively.it's a pain in the ass driving ground vehicles across the map. You bump and crash into everything. The apple in the water are an interresting effect but don't change much the gameplay. (Who wants to travel by boat. It's slower than a raptor and you stay uncovered when you have to debark and reach the flag; or maybe to bring back the flag but then the boats are locked...)That's the end of my detailed review. Do what you want with it. You can even delete it.I have huge respect for the impressive ammount of work, time and efforts gone in that map. I think it reached its purpose: Win the U4E contest. But i'm extremely disapointed with its gameplay. It's by far overclassed by ONS countertop.NB: that map has been uploaded on levels4you (not by me). The description doesn't say it won the contest. the descrition doesn't say you need the lattest version of U4E to run it. Unfortunately the version of U4E availlable on levels4you is not recent enough to run it. Therefore i assume the 15 persons who downloaded it haven't been able to run it and there is little i can do about it, sorry. I though i could warn people by reviewing it but considering my own opinion it would be a slander.

Wow! Thanks for the HUGEly detailed review, molodiets! I learned a lot from this review - the most from any review anyone's given.I feel surprised by some of the things you've said here... But I'll just respond in-line, below:

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i found nearly all the weapons (except the hellsaw)

I agree with many of your comments about weapon placement, and will move this in the next revision (of which, if you didn't know, there's a link to a beta version in the U4E forum's thread about this map. It has improved framerates, but not ideal yet)

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I got the QSG. The only way to get it AFAK, is the bug gun. Is there another way?

I didn't think you could use the Bug gun! huh! Yes, I use the teleport function of the Katana (alt fire).

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I got the leviathan. You need a rift pad portal to take it out of the mug. The technic is not flawless.

This is correct; it matters GREATLY where you place the other rift opening. Try to choose a very flat, wall-like area. DEFINITELY NOT the pot full of water

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The toaster works even thou it's not necessary to get out with the hoverboard (which is indeed a real spoiller)

ARrgh. You realized that, too! Yeah, I didn't full realize just exactly HOW HIGH that Locust can jump, even though Gel warned me! I've already addressed this in the next revision.

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I got the Paladin. ... I've been unable to use the IAM to move the glass enough.

I'm puzzled by that. If you were able to move ANY of the karma-objects, you should have been able to move them with the IAM... Were you able to lift any other karma object with the IAM?

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I got the doll bomb by "landing" nearby with my raptor. But i don't think it's worth wasting a raptor for 3 dollbombs. I'm usually not useless at IAM climbing but that was really too hard for me.

I agree about the Raptor, but I find it very easy to catch myself with the IAM while falling. I'm suspecting a framerate issue, since you mentioned that while pole-vaulting...

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I did pole jumped across whole maps with the IAM but this map is a bit too cumbersome.

This is another surprising comment to me; as long as you don't try to cross the "ocean", there's always something to pole-vault with, and it's incredibly speedy for me. Sometimes I cross the sink, but yes you have to do it carefully otherwise you're swimming.

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The map "lags", my frame rate colapses when i play it. That kinda spoils the gameplay. The acrobatics requested by the map are much harder with that laggy impression.

I'm working on this... this was the worst aspect of the map...

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The underwater weapons are no longer accessible after a few minutes. ... In addition, for me, rifts quickly disapear. Lots of weapons quickly get out of reach.

I did plan on the underwater weapons to not be accessible, on purpose. The Railgun just isn't fun if someone had the ability to constantly shoot it, and it's far too easy to capture the flag with the Airblast. The rifts last for about 2 minutes each, for me, so I had THOUGHT that would be a fine answer. Perhaps there's some U4E error or setting that's causing your portals to be short-lived...?

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I rise a little, painfully, slowly but finally, i always run out of ammo before getting out of the sink and fall back.

Apparently a U4E "feature". I tend to use the boost-pads as a kick-start.

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Is this map supposed to be played online or offline?

Ideally, on a LAN. You're right about the bots; they get confused by the paths across the water, among other things.

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The first time i played it i found almost no weapon.

I will do a full makeover on the weapon placement.

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i think more open spaces would be welcome. I tend to lost myself in that maze. It's also, for me a necessity in order to AIM polljump effectively.

Hmm.. There's really three, rather-distinct "highways" across the road areas, and two across the water, and I think if you had a higher framerate (again, I'm fixing that), you'd find it a lot easier to pole-vault pretty much ANYWHERE across the board. As for the boats, if you pile multiple people into one of them, they're actually very powerful, and the Vipers are pretty danged fast if you speed-boost twice across the sink...

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That's the end of my detailed review. Do what you want with it. You can even delete it.

No way - this is incredibly helpful and I'll use it to fix the next version. Once again, THANK YOU, molodiets! I appreciate this and all the links you've been finding for vehicles, too!P.S. I'll add the other links you PM'ed me as soon as I can. Gotta get back to work for now...

The underwater weapons are no longer accessible after a few minutes. ... In addition, for me, rifts quickly disapear. Lots of weapons quickly get out of reach.

I did plan on the underwater weapons to not be accessible, on purpose. The Railgun just isn't fun if someone had the ability to constantly shoot it, and it's far too easy to capture the flag with the Airblast. The rifts last for about 2 minutes each, for me, so I had THOUGHT that would be a fine answer. Perhaps there's some U4E error or setting that's causing your portals to be short-lived...?

About the map, i understand your objection. My portals last as long as yours.But when you spawn in the sink and get the airblast, there is extremelly little chance that you live long enough to use it to move quicker. It's often extremely long to get out of the sink. You get bogered in the water. All the more so if you tried to pick up the BFG (which spawn later). When you have it you're already stuck in the water. So i generally don't use it cause when i get out there are enemies everywhere and i don't have the time to shoot. I think the BFG is not really a spoiller with such a landscape. Its radius is limited by the numerous obstacles players can hide behind. Sincerely i don't know where to shoot at (far enough to not kill myself but aiming far is not easy and the missile is slow). I agree that railgun can be used from the sink. But i think there should be airblasts and BFG somewhere else in the map. (I noticed an empty mug near the toaster in the corner.)I think there is several conceptions.1) You can accept that players use U4E weapons to move faster to the flag and back. In the map WGS bedroom i am able to reach the oposite flag from my base in one leap (with the iam) because it's opened not cumbersome and a bit higher that the battlefield. It won't be possible in your map but maybe more open spaces could enlarge my leaps. Then, you could provide easily reached airblasts with ammos , hellsaw... that let you travel over big distances with the flag. I'm afraid that could lead to easy cap because bot won't be as skillfull as players at flying to the base and back.2) You can let players reach the base easily but cause them hardship as they come back. Example: airblast with limited ammos, IAM polljumping will reduce the speed of the return to base.3) You can (as you did) reduce or nearly annihilated all the transport possibilities offered by U4E hellsaws, airblasts and AIMs. But i think it's a bit extreme.

winkyboy wrote:

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i found nearly all the weapons (except the hellsaw)

I agree with many of your comments about weapon placement, and will move this in the next revision (of which, if you didn't know, there's a link to a beta version in the U4E forum's thread )

I'm really upset with the lots of ammos availlable on the shelves near the closets. It would be such a good sniping point if there was lightning or FBR or avril or turrets. Intead of that, there are ammos for transports (airblast is more a transport medium than a weapon) that are no longer available. Considering i needed a flying vehicle to get there, it's not well paid.

winkyboy wrote:

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The toaster works even thou it's not necessary to get out with the hoverboard (which is indeed a real spoiller)

ARrgh. You realized that, too! Yeah, I didn't full realize just exactly HOW HIGH that Locust can jump, even though Gel warned me! I've already addressed this in the next revision.)

OK you fixed that. Good. I still think the tomahawk should be available there

winkyboy wrote:

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I got the Paladin. ... I've been unable to use the IAM to move the glass enough.

I'm puzzled by that. If you were able to move ANY of the karma-objects, you should have been able to move them with the IAM... Were you able to lift any other karma object with the IAM?

I finally succeeded to lift the glass enough with the IAM and get the paladin. I still prefer the other methods though.

winkyboy wrote:

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I rise a little, painfully, slowly but finally, i always run out of ammo before getting out of the sink and fall back.

Apparently a U4E "feature". I tend to use the boost-pads as a kick-start.

I retested that. Did you mess with the gravity? The boots didn't help me much but worse, it proved than even from the shelf i can't use the airblast to fly as i do in other maps. I use it as a chopper helix but whatever, wherever, i still fall. In other maps i was able to take off. Here i can'tI regret the lack of sniping spots. Sniping is the best part of the game. There are some high vantage points (on cans, cereal boxes..) but you can't reach them except in raptor and when you're there there is no weapon. If only there could be turrets.Have a look at all those splendid sniping spots. If only i could have a teleport to get there or at least a edge i could launch a grapling harpoon at (like the helsaw, or the bug gun) to hoist myself

But when you spawn in the sink and get the airblast, there is extremelly little chance that you live long enough to use it to move quicker. It's often extremely long to get out of the sink. You get bogered in the water.

I'll address the other points ASAP, but I woke up this morning wondering this: How soon after you start the board does the water start rising? It's SUPPOSED to wait about 2 minutes before moving, which should be more than enough time to get out of the sink...

But when you spawn in the sink and get the airblast, there is extremelly little chance that you live long enough to use it to move quicker. It's often extremely long to get out of the sink. You get bogered in the water.

I'll address the other points ASAP, but I woke up this morning wondering this: How soon after you start the board does the water start rising? It's SUPPOSED to wait about 2 minutes before moving, which should be more than enough time to get out of the sink...

I suppose it does. Haven't checked with my watch.The problem is two fold, i think. You generally spawn near the airblast- Either you just take the airblast and the railgun and you have far enough time to get out of the sink using the jumpads (specially if you're not as clumsy as me and don't carry on pressing the forward key after the jumpad; which relsults in me jumping over the handle of the pan and falling back in the water but don't pay attention. i'm just stupid).But i couldn't take off (or just a little bit) anywhere in the map with the airblast -> useless weapon.- Or you try to get the BFG. But it spawns latter. I generaly arrive to the pickup base before it spawns and wait. It spawn about one sec before the water floods my ankles.

Well, Molodiets, I'm thinkin' you (and everyone else) will really enjoy the changes that have happened to the Sterling boards. It's been some time, but I think I've got a new beta to test. The board has undergone MASSIVE changes, so much that I've renamed it again. I don't even know if this could still be called the same board, although the layout is, at its heart, the same. It is now Sterling Sea and I used your advice pretty well, I think. Weapon placement is much more... "fun" oriented. You spawn, there's a locker with some good weapons next to you, and a little bit farther are good vehicles. The sniping points have ammo - various amounts, with matching weapons, too. Not 100% in easy reach, but I think it's quite an improvement.I'm VERY happy to announce that I have framerates ranging from 20-50 now, with an average 30-40. I peak every now and then at around 70, too. I have taken out the rising water idea, because essentially it was "extra" to the fun factor. I've reduced the surface area of the countertop as well, so there are fewer paths between flags - it was too easy to lose yourself before. However don't think that reducing the countertop means less actual playable area; this board leans much, MUCH more toward a naval-type battle. I'm trying to bring together the best ocean-going vehicles in one board, because IMHO the community out there never received them properly. Monarch, wherever he is, created some of the best vehicles for the ocean, but personally I found some problems with them. Vynum fixed the crashing-errors, and in SterlingSea, I've addressed a few issues I felt needed changing as well. CMan's Kopholus assault pack never surfaced (which I still am quite sad about), but the Vipers are still prominently in the board. And Xilver thankfully is still developing the Watercraft mod. Oh yes, and I stumbled upon the Annihilation vehicles while creating the Vehicle Index and saw a lot of potential in them, so the Hippo makes an appearance here too. Let's see... let me back up a bit:There are three UTNavy vehicles in here, resized to fit the board (they were HUGE) and renamed. The Attack Sub is now the Kraken, the mini-sub is now the Shortfin (a type of shark), and the Gunboat is now a Kingfisher. They're lots of fun, and I'll probably try to resize the rest of the Navy, so they can at least fit in regular-sized boards.I put the Dragonfly bomber in here - I always wanted that as an in-map pilotable vehicle...The Hippo has been sped up a bit, and since this is still a U4E board, I gave it the projectile from the Howitzer. I might need to tweak some stuff with it still, maybe make it faster, or give it more life, since the Howzie fire is a shorter range than its previous Rocket Launcher fire.The Hammerhead is available to fly around - I gave it a lot more life, maybe too much... ?And there are a couple of other added vehicles, changes etc. Oh, in case no one figures it out, the "blue and red shields" around the flags can be lowered by shooting the switch at each main base, so people who like Manta runs can do a few.Without further ado, I post the screenies, and go to sleep. Message me if you're interested in playing a beta of this.

Shortfin for the shortfin mako, right? Well, I hope you got UTNavy working right, I liked that mod but so many things didn't work. Wheres the Sealion from? Looks intresting. Hmmm, well I'm eagerly awaiting this new version.

Yup! A perfect name for the minisub, don't you thinK? I'm pretty sure I've ironed out the bugs - at least, most of the ones that really affect gameplay. I'll get back to you on what I KNOW still exists, but if you think of any bugs, let me know-

Good name for a mini-sub provided it is fast an manueverable.In the time I played it I only found obvious things that you most likely got. The flying battleship (when it spawned and had no one in it), get in the subs and get booted out of UT, and the bots hated the ships. Just out of curiosity, are you going to patch up UTNavy or just those ships shown? Well, either way, this looks to be fun! It is so very rare to find a water based map.

Well I never saw the flying battleship... but when the ships DO spawn, they "float" some distance above the water until someone enters them. This is a kind of requirement, I think, because when you enter a boat that's IN the water, you've got a 50/50 chance of it being unusable, in which case you have to exit and re-enter the boat until it "unlocks". That is a bug I'm not going to be able to fix, because I don't understand it very well. But since the boat "hovers" to begin with, it doesn't happen too often.One neat thing I was able to discover was that I was able to make the Kraken torpedos lock on to all water-based vehicles. I did it on specific class-based instances, though so this probably did create a dependancy on those, though, so my version of the Navy will need to be packaged alongside those vehicles. (i.e. the Annihilation Arsenal, Kopholus boats, and Watercraft mods) I'm tweaking some of the Annihilation vehicles also, because they needed just a little extra OOMPH to be playable.I'll contact specific people (i.e. those like you who have shown interest) for sending a closed beta copy to, PDQ. This will ABSOLUTELY happen before September 15th, as I'm going to be on vacation starting then.[edit] Oh, BTW, to answer your question, I've got all the vehicles in the Navy fixed.[/edit][edit2]The Sea Lion is a new part of the Watercraft mod, by Xilver[/edit2][edit3]Minisub -> ShortfinAttack Sub -> KrakenBattleShip -> ManOfWarMissle Frigate -> Archer (the fish that shoots water at insects)Gunboat -> KingfisherPatrolBoat -> Piranha[/edit3]

I never understood what makes vehicles go. Anyways, when the boats hovered (I only had the battleship do it to me and, as you said, only when it spawned) they usually maxed out the map ceiling (so you needed a raptor or something to get to it) and if I hit it with a rocket or something it tended to drift a little. I didn't know the boats had "hover" physics, so I guess that would explain a bit. This mod in beta form before sept. 15th? Sweeeet.About the lock on torpedos, will they be escapeable/survivable? Are they extremely manuverable, quick, pack a nasty punch, and the #1 cause of death on the high seas (or kitchen sink, for this map.) Or are they sort of like a marine version of the AVRIL, slow and none to manuverable but still do damage? Just curious on that. I'm guessing the torps will be something like the AVRIL in form and function.

I think I know what you're talking about, with the hovering boats bit... although I'd really call them more like FLYING boats -- when all of a sudden a boat (usually unmanned) goes zooming straight up in the air. I don't know what causes that, but I did put in a really low blockingvolume as a kind-of ceiling in my board. I suspect it's because the Navy boats are PROBably subclassed from the Manta-type vehicles (I've got the code, but going from memory here, and I can't remember ) And the Manta has this weird side-effect of being able to vertically climb certain kinds of architecture. *shrug*The torpedos... well, they're pretty hard to escape, which makes the Kraken so particularly deadly; with its sonar, all water-classed vehicles get a highlighted box on the screen, and firing in the general area of that box sets the homing torpedo on its way. The Kraken only respawns every 2 minutes, so destroy it as soon as possible. I'm thinking I should make the surface of the water a little transparent, because the Dragonfly bomber is incredibly deadly AGAINST the Kraken.anyway, I'm up wayyy too late.

Posting here, too, so that if you didn't notice the one in my News thread, you'll see it here:I got the laptop all sorted out (read: reformatted) and have scanned all my backups with two different virus scanners, so it looks all good to go. I've put the file up in a 30-meg RAR size, but it will need some other files as well. Anyone else interested in trying it out? I'll go post at Monarch's site and U4E, since there are some dedicated players there as well.FYI, before/after downloading SterlingSea, you'll also need:SinkPack2004, Unreal4Ever, Annihilation Arsenal andUT2005Navy(which requires UT2004Navy, which requires AirpowerIII)

I just PM'ed you the link. As of yet, I'd just like to know who's testing - but I'm possibly open to a more-open beta test. (I'm still feeling the burn of having four "releases" (one yet to be put out) of GraveyardHills. I hate making mistakes.